WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:15.160 There was a time when Unix was an operating system used only by the computer elite. 00:15.160 --> 00:19.740 People working on mainframes like this Amdahl 580, which is in fact the world's largest 00:19.740 --> 00:21.480 Unix computer system. 00:21.480 --> 00:24.600 But nowadays, Unix is showing up on personal computers. 00:24.600 --> 00:27.840 In fact, Unix is running this RadioShack 16B. 00:27.840 --> 00:29.840 Why all the excitement about Unix? 00:29.840 --> 00:32.320 And will Unix become the next MS-DOS? 00:32.320 --> 00:37.080 We'll find out as we take a look at Unix the operating system on this edition of the Computer 00:37.080 --> 00:38.080 Chronicles. 00:38.080 --> 01:00.360 The 01:00.360 --> 01:04.760 Computer Chronicles is brought to you in part by McGraw-Hill, publishers of Popular Computing 01:04.760 --> 01:10.200 Magazine, featuring microcomputer applications that increase productivity for managers and 01:10.200 --> 01:17.640 professionals. 01:17.640 --> 01:18.920 Welcome to the Computer Chronicles. 01:18.920 --> 01:21.080 I'm Stuart Shafee and this is Gary Kildall. 01:21.080 --> 01:24.960 Gary, I told a friend of mine we were doing a show on Unix and he said to me, why in the 01:24.960 --> 01:27.480 world would you want to feature a Unix on a computer show? 01:27.480 --> 01:31.920 Now the moral of the story is while some computer people are talking about nothing but Unix, 01:31.920 --> 01:34.440 some PC users don't even know what Unix is. 01:34.440 --> 01:36.480 Why is there this sudden excitement about Unix? 01:36.480 --> 01:38.480 Well, it shouldn't be sudden excitement. 01:38.480 --> 01:41.200 Unix itself has been around since the late 60s. 01:41.200 --> 01:43.440 The problem is that micros haven't had the power to support it. 01:43.440 --> 01:46.600 They haven't had the large amount of main memory, the hard disk, the fast processor 01:46.600 --> 01:47.600 and so forth. 01:47.600 --> 01:51.240 But nowadays, micros do have that power and so Unix becomes a serious contender for an 01:51.240 --> 01:52.240 operating system standard. 01:52.240 --> 01:56.320 Okay, and in fact, many people are saying Unix might become the standard operating system 01:56.320 --> 02:00.080 of the future, but there are many uses of Unix going on right now. 02:00.080 --> 02:03.560 We have a report. 02:03.560 --> 02:08.920 Developed in the late 1960s at Bell Laboratories, Unix was later adopted by the University of 02:08.920 --> 02:12.240 California for academic research and publishing. 02:12.240 --> 02:16.500 At Berkeley's History of Science Department, typesetting of journals and directories is 02:16.500 --> 02:21.280 accomplished from start to finish on a network of Unix-based terminals. 02:21.280 --> 02:22.280 Why Unix? 02:22.280 --> 02:26.760 Well, apart from the fact that a major version of Unix was designed at Berkeley, it's an 02:26.760 --> 02:28.960 eminently portable system. 02:28.960 --> 02:35.760 From micro to mini to mainframe, Unix is easily adapted with few or no changes required. 02:35.760 --> 02:39.080 The typical Unix network runs on mini computers. 02:39.080 --> 02:44.520 User-initiated tasks are distributed among computers through port selectors. 02:44.520 --> 02:48.800 But the advantages of Unix are not limited to multi-user portability. 02:48.800 --> 02:52.200 The system is also fast and powerful. 02:52.200 --> 02:57.560 Once the user has mastered its unorthodox commands, he's rewarded with some very sophisticated 02:57.560 --> 03:00.360 features like background processing. 03:00.360 --> 03:05.040 After initiating a task, the user can go on to another one while the system continues 03:05.040 --> 03:07.240 to work on the first. 03:07.240 --> 03:12.640 Surrounding the kernel of Unix is a shell or central command interpreter that redirects 03:12.640 --> 03:19.000 application input and output, manipulates files, and stores command sequences. 03:19.000 --> 03:23.660 The shell structure, unlike the commands, is friendly, allowing even the first-time 03:23.660 --> 03:27.120 user to perform complex tasks. 03:27.120 --> 03:30.600 Most users give the system high marks for its versatility. 03:30.600 --> 03:36.080 Yet up until now, it's been largely confined to a small group of specialized users. 03:36.080 --> 03:38.220 It has proven itself to them. 03:38.220 --> 03:55.480 Now it must prove itself to the rest of us. 03:55.480 --> 03:57.800 Let me introduce you now to our first two guests. 03:57.800 --> 03:59.120 First of all, Mark Sobel. 03:59.120 --> 04:02.640 Mark is the author of a book called A Practical Guide to the Unix System. 04:02.640 --> 04:03.640 And John Mashey. 04:03.640 --> 04:07.160 John is now with MIPS Computer Systems, used to be with Convergent Technologies, and used 04:07.160 --> 04:09.040 to work on Unix at Bell Labs. 04:09.040 --> 04:11.760 Gary, a lot of people don't really understand Unix. 04:11.760 --> 04:14.080 Maybe you can start by giving us a little bit of background. 04:14.080 --> 04:19.080 Well, Unix has a very interesting history, and it really has come down from the mini-computer 04:19.080 --> 04:23.440 world into micros, where a lot of the micro-operating systems move themselves up into the high end, 04:23.440 --> 04:25.920 and they're sort of meeting right in the middle right now. 04:25.920 --> 04:32.560 Unix carries with it the C language, the Unix file system, and the Unix interface. 04:32.560 --> 04:38.280 Now the file system itself is what we're talking about here, but the C language is wildly successful 04:38.280 --> 04:39.280 right now. 04:39.280 --> 04:41.640 It's been on a lot of different operating systems. 04:41.640 --> 04:45.620 Now the question about the user interface is still one that we have to address. 04:45.620 --> 04:49.280 It's considered unfriendly, and Mark is going to show us an example of that and how it's 04:49.280 --> 04:52.040 made more friendly, say, with the applications themselves. 04:52.040 --> 04:58.080 Well, first, I think for people who aren't familiar with Unix, you have a lot of short 04:58.080 --> 05:04.800 commands because Unix was designed for machines, for terminals that ran very slowly, teletypes. 05:04.800 --> 05:18.400 And a command like this will generate a lot of information that needs a little interpretation. 05:18.400 --> 05:29.320 What you're seeing more and more today is applications being built with interfaces derived 05:29.320 --> 05:31.680 from DOS. 05:31.680 --> 05:38.920 This application is called Fileit, and it has a Lotus 1-2-3 type of interface. 05:38.920 --> 05:43.720 And this takes the place of the typical interface that you'd see in, say, a standard Unix world. 05:43.720 --> 05:44.720 Right. 05:44.720 --> 05:50.280 And it can pull up this program or can automatically just log in and be using this program and 05:50.280 --> 05:55.640 moves the cursor or this highlight by pressing the space bar. 05:55.640 --> 05:57.120 And there's built-in help. 05:57.120 --> 06:03.120 Press Control-W, and it'll tell you where you are and what you can do if you get stuck. 06:03.120 --> 06:05.560 And return just calls up what you want to. 06:05.560 --> 06:08.360 So in this case, what Unix does is it's really the core of the system. 06:08.360 --> 06:11.960 It provides the services for this program to get out the file system and so forth, but 06:11.960 --> 06:14.080 really itself doesn't talk to the user. 06:14.080 --> 06:15.080 Exactly. 06:15.080 --> 06:21.360 It also provided a environment for the developers to build Unix. 06:21.360 --> 06:27.680 And Unix, that's one of the things Unix does best, is to allow people to generate applications 06:27.680 --> 06:28.680 such as this. 06:28.680 --> 06:32.240 Now, one of the things that Unix has really pioneered, I think, is the idea of portability 06:32.240 --> 06:33.240 of software. 06:33.240 --> 06:35.080 That is, you can move it around to various places. 06:35.080 --> 06:36.440 And John, what do you have? 06:36.440 --> 06:38.760 Any comments about the portability of Unix itself? 06:38.760 --> 06:42.400 Yeah, that is certainly probably the most important area of Unix. 06:42.400 --> 06:47.920 Unix started on some digital equipment machines and has since been moved to literally 50 or 06:47.920 --> 06:50.200 100 different kinds of processors. 06:50.200 --> 06:54.720 That's very important because if you're going to invest a lot of effort in building software, 06:54.720 --> 07:00.200 it's real helpful to know that you can move it around, move it from anything from personal 07:00.200 --> 07:02.360 computers to the very largest mainframes. 07:02.360 --> 07:04.360 It means you save a lot of your investment. 07:04.360 --> 07:06.760 Now, that's also true for software designers. 07:06.760 --> 07:08.400 That's certainly true. 07:08.400 --> 07:13.360 The software designer can then take, say, a language like C in a standard runtime library 07:13.360 --> 07:15.280 and then you write an application for it. 07:15.280 --> 07:19.440 And you can not only run on Unix, but say run on DOS or concurrent DOS. 07:19.440 --> 07:20.440 That's true. 07:20.440 --> 07:21.440 That's true. 07:21.440 --> 07:26.960 In fact, actually, that's how Unix originally got moved was that people found that you could 07:26.960 --> 07:28.680 move C programs very easily. 07:28.680 --> 07:32.280 It was the environment that was difficult to copy. 07:32.280 --> 07:34.880 And therefore, people got to move Unix to other machines. 07:34.880 --> 07:39.200 Now, one of the criticisms of Unix has been that it was unreliable. 07:39.200 --> 07:44.360 And I think all the Unix users have heard that over and over in the past years. 07:44.360 --> 07:47.640 What is the state of it right now in terms of if we're talking about the core system, 07:47.640 --> 07:50.480 the file system, you want that to be very reliable. 07:50.480 --> 07:52.040 What is the current state of that? 07:52.040 --> 07:54.180 It's actually fairly good these days. 07:54.180 --> 08:00.320 You have to understand originally when you got your Unix system, the normal behavior 08:00.320 --> 08:03.560 was to find a guru or wizard and chain them to the machine. 08:03.560 --> 08:07.160 Therefore, when the disk broke, you would have someone to pick up the pieces and put 08:07.160 --> 08:08.160 them back together. 08:08.160 --> 08:11.600 That was, say, 1972, 73. 08:11.600 --> 08:16.400 But as Unix moved into computer centers and more and more people depended on it, a lot 08:16.400 --> 08:19.520 of work was done to make it a much more reliable system. 08:19.520 --> 08:24.000 And actually, today, it's used in some fairly demanding applications. 08:24.000 --> 08:29.240 One of the things that people don't realize is that actually Unix touches them through 08:29.240 --> 08:31.640 the phone system almost every day. 08:31.640 --> 08:35.680 If you ever want to get your telephone fixed, the system that keeps track of all that work 08:35.680 --> 08:37.240 is run by Unix. 08:37.240 --> 08:39.320 And it has very reliable database. 08:39.320 --> 08:40.320 All right. 08:40.320 --> 08:43.840 When we get into something like a micro-based system where someone can kick the power cord 08:43.840 --> 08:47.720 as they're walking by, now there have been criticisms about the reliability. 08:47.720 --> 08:49.080 What happens at that point? 08:49.080 --> 08:50.680 And that's in the commercial system. 08:50.680 --> 08:51.680 Right. 08:51.680 --> 08:52.680 That's what people worry about. 08:52.680 --> 08:53.680 Right. 08:53.680 --> 08:56.120 And indeed, there has been a lot of work that has had to go on to make it a lot more reliable 08:56.120 --> 08:57.120 system. 08:57.120 --> 08:58.120 And it has happened. 08:58.120 --> 09:00.120 Mark, I want to go back to your demo for a minute. 09:00.120 --> 09:03.880 From a user's point of view, you've shown me how you can sort of friendly up Unix here 09:03.880 --> 09:05.960 and make it look like MS-DOS. 09:05.960 --> 09:08.200 But from a user's point of view, then why do I care? 09:08.200 --> 09:11.760 What am I getting from this Unix-based application that I couldn't have been getting from an 09:11.760 --> 09:14.160 MS-DOS-based application? 09:14.160 --> 09:18.840 There are two major features that Unix offers. 09:18.840 --> 09:24.320 And I would emphasize the point that everyone doesn't want Unix. 09:24.320 --> 09:29.200 If you have an MS-DOS system running an application and it's doing what you need it to do, maybe 09:29.200 --> 09:31.280 Unix is not what you need. 09:31.280 --> 09:35.240 However, Unix is a multi-user operating system. 09:35.240 --> 09:41.120 I can do a query, look at data at the same time someone else is looking or changing the 09:41.120 --> 09:42.840 same data, someone else. 09:42.840 --> 09:47.320 And this is all on the same machine, is using a word processing system. 09:47.320 --> 09:50.000 Someone is doing graphics. 09:50.000 --> 09:52.800 So it's a multi-user machine. 09:52.800 --> 09:56.320 Everyone doesn't have to fight over the one machine. 09:56.320 --> 10:01.920 It's also a multi-tasking operating system. 10:01.920 --> 10:07.920 I can be performing my work here while the printer is printing a report and while I'm 10:07.920 --> 10:10.920 doing some other processing in the background. 10:10.920 --> 10:11.920 So I can be doing several. 10:11.920 --> 10:16.120 It's important to also mention that that's not the only operating system in the micro 10:16.120 --> 10:17.120 world that does that. 10:17.120 --> 10:20.600 Of course, because IBM has announced TopView, which is a multi-tasking operating system. 10:20.600 --> 10:23.320 And of course, Concurrent DOS is the same sort of thing. 10:23.320 --> 10:27.600 And we see, again, this contention that's taking place right in the middle of Unix coming 10:27.600 --> 10:30.000 down and these other operating systems coming up. 10:30.000 --> 10:33.800 And it really points out that I think that a lot of people are looking for that new facility 10:33.800 --> 10:35.560 of being able to do multi-tasking. 10:35.560 --> 10:39.880 And Unix is a very good way to do, to provide that function. 10:39.880 --> 10:45.920 If I can open up another area, which is an alternative to a multi-user environment that's 10:45.920 --> 10:50.460 becoming, that's talked about increasingly, it's local area networks. 10:50.460 --> 10:55.600 But I think it's important also to contrast that with a multi-user system. 10:55.600 --> 10:59.960 And I think at some point in the future, that will be a viable alternative. 10:59.960 --> 11:06.220 Right now, you don't have your hard standard network. 11:06.220 --> 11:07.640 You don't have everyone. 11:07.640 --> 11:10.600 You can't plug every computer into the same network. 11:10.600 --> 11:12.600 But I think that's something to watch in the future. 11:12.600 --> 11:13.600 Right. 11:13.600 --> 11:15.560 Now, there's one thing I wanted to ask also. 11:15.560 --> 11:16.560 Maybe John can answer this. 11:16.560 --> 11:20.680 But let's say TopView, for example, has addressed the problem of standardized graphics interface 11:20.680 --> 11:24.000 with VDI from IBM. 11:24.000 --> 11:28.320 What's evolving in terms of Unix standards for standardizing the graphics display? 11:28.320 --> 11:31.120 See, that's, at this point, it's hard to tell. 11:31.120 --> 11:37.640 And I guess, again, the reason there is found in history is that Unix certainly was done 11:37.640 --> 11:40.840 originally for fairly slow speed terminals. 11:40.840 --> 11:43.200 That interface is pretty well standard. 11:43.200 --> 11:48.360 Unix has also gotten fairly standardized in the handling of regular CRTs, right, as a 11:48.360 --> 11:49.360 normal standard interface. 11:49.360 --> 11:50.360 But there still needs to be some work on the graphics. 11:50.360 --> 11:52.920 There still needs to be some work on the graphics area. 11:52.920 --> 11:59.200 And you can particularly see that this is a period where some parts of Unix have become 11:59.200 --> 12:02.440 standard and other parts are under a lot of heavy work. 12:02.440 --> 12:09.680 Certainly, Unix is used on anything from personal computer machines through fairly powerful 12:09.680 --> 12:10.680 single-user workstations. 12:10.680 --> 12:13.200 John, I'm afraid I have to interrupt. 12:13.200 --> 12:16.160 We've got to move on because in just a minute, we're going to meet two more Unix experts 12:16.160 --> 12:19.240 and we're going to take a look at the new Unix PC from Hewlett-Packard. 12:19.240 --> 12:33.080 So stay with us. 12:33.080 --> 12:34.760 Joining us now is Doug Hartman. 12:34.760 --> 12:37.720 Doug is the manager of Unix development at Hewlett-Packard. 12:37.720 --> 12:42.080 And next to Doug, Mike Denny, Unix consultant and the vice president and co-founder of Basis, 12:42.080 --> 12:45.000 which is a Unix resource center in Berkeley. 12:45.000 --> 12:48.720 One of the key people in the development of Unix is a man named Bill Joy, who's sometimes 12:48.720 --> 12:52.640 called the father of 4.2, which is the Berkeley version of Unix. 12:52.640 --> 12:55.080 Reporter Wendy Woods has a profile of Bill Joy. 12:55.080 --> 13:01.120 The success of Bill Joy's Unix 4.2 can best be measured by the success of his own company. 13:01.120 --> 13:06.480 Sun Microsystems, which makes a line of Unix 4.2-based minicomputers and workstations, 13:06.480 --> 13:11.480 has gone from six to over 1,000 employees in three years. 13:11.480 --> 13:16.160 Sun ships more than $7 million worth of equipment each month to the technical and engineering 13:16.160 --> 13:21.720 communities, which find Unix 4.2 the ideal operating environment for their specialized 13:21.720 --> 13:23.520 software needs. 13:23.520 --> 13:28.600 But despite his success, Bill Joy isn't allowing his Unix 4.2 to stagnate. 13:28.600 --> 13:34.480 He continues to work closely with his university roots to improve on Unix, unlike others. 13:34.480 --> 13:37.560 Unix has hit the point where it's starting to get standardized by standards committees 13:37.560 --> 13:43.880 and adopted by, and really attempt to get the control of the development by major corporations 13:43.880 --> 13:45.560 like IBM and AT&T. 13:45.560 --> 13:50.920 That inevitably involves a slowing down of the rate of change in the system. 13:50.920 --> 13:56.320 As for the future of Unix, he says its open source code, versatility, and ability to work 13:56.320 --> 14:00.780 on a variety of machines means it will be popular with scientists and engineers for 14:00.780 --> 14:02.280 some time. 14:02.280 --> 14:06.400 Unix will be important if it can deliver applications that people want to run. 14:06.400 --> 14:09.800 The technical market needs more operating system capabilities than you're likely to 14:09.800 --> 14:11.840 see from the smaller systems. 14:11.840 --> 14:18.000 So we don't really have an alternative applications delivery vehicle than Unix. 14:18.000 --> 14:21.040 But will Unix ever make it big in the business market? 14:21.040 --> 14:22.040 Bill Joy doubts it. 14:22.040 --> 14:27.920 He says what's needed is a Unix-based business program like Lotus 1-2-3, something big and 14:27.920 --> 14:29.000 successful. 14:29.000 --> 14:33.080 Until that's written, he says, quote, I'm not super hopeful. 14:33.080 --> 14:35.560 Reporting for the Computer Chronicles, I'm Wendy Woods. 14:35.560 --> 14:41.200 Stuart, in the last segment we focused in on this issue of user friendliness, I guess 14:41.200 --> 14:43.320 an overworked word. 14:43.320 --> 14:47.080 Micro-users have come to expect this idea of a graphical animated communication with 14:47.080 --> 14:48.200 their programs. 14:48.200 --> 14:52.400 And one of the points of Unix being successful is to be able to do that in the micro world. 14:52.400 --> 14:58.360 Doug, as we have an example of what Hewlett Packard has done to provide a shell or kind 14:58.360 --> 15:00.400 of an animated communication. 15:00.400 --> 15:01.400 That's right. 15:01.400 --> 15:05.040 On our integral PC, we have an example of using Windows menus, that sort of thing, to 15:05.040 --> 15:07.320 give people a friendlier user interface. 15:07.320 --> 15:09.000 We can select, say, a spreadsheet. 15:09.000 --> 15:11.480 We'll be putting the information in the spreadsheet. 15:11.480 --> 15:15.560 And while it's going on, we can be selecting other, say, graphical windows. 15:15.560 --> 15:21.200 Now, Doug, there are other computers that don't use Unix that can do some of this stuff. 15:21.200 --> 15:24.280 We've seen multiple windows in other machines and multitasking. 15:24.280 --> 15:26.520 What now is special about Unix here? 15:26.520 --> 15:31.000 The big thing that Unix has going for it is the compatibility with various other machines, 15:31.000 --> 15:32.000 software portability. 15:32.000 --> 15:36.160 The idea is that you can take programs which are written on some other machine, bring them 15:36.160 --> 15:38.720 to another Unix-based machine with very little effort. 15:38.720 --> 15:40.760 It makes a software developer's job very easy. 15:40.760 --> 15:44.360 And this is what we talked about earlier in terms of the C language in the standard runtime 15:44.360 --> 15:45.360 library. 15:45.360 --> 15:50.000 The idea is if an application software writer codes in a machine-independent way using, 15:50.000 --> 15:54.120 say, C in the runtime library, then it can run on Unix or it can run on concurrent DOS 15:54.120 --> 15:56.960 or under MS-DOS and things of that sort. 15:56.960 --> 16:00.160 It's a very powerful concept for software writers. 16:00.160 --> 16:04.000 We mentioned before 4.2, which is the Berkeley version of Unix. 16:04.000 --> 16:06.160 And I'd like to clear up what may be some confusion of people. 16:06.160 --> 16:07.160 We hear about Xenix. 16:07.160 --> 16:08.160 We hear about Unix. 16:08.160 --> 16:09.760 I think you call your thing HPUX. 16:09.760 --> 16:14.280 We hear of PCIX, System 3, System 5, 4.2, and so on. 16:14.280 --> 16:18.120 Why are there so many versions of Unix, and how do they differ, Mike? 16:18.120 --> 16:19.120 Just luck. 16:19.120 --> 16:26.160 The proliferation of names besides Unix is dictated by AT&T's requirement that you not 16:26.160 --> 16:27.240 call it Unix. 16:27.240 --> 16:31.040 So each manufacturer comes up with their little name for it. 16:31.040 --> 16:35.240 For the most part, it is fairly standard. 16:35.240 --> 16:38.720 A Xenix machine looks like Unix to me. 16:38.720 --> 16:42.480 It may have a few extras here and there, maybe a couple of things. 16:42.480 --> 16:44.600 Your favorite utility may not be there. 16:44.600 --> 16:50.000 But to move from even between the so-called Berkeley camp and the AT&T Bell Labs camp 16:50.000 --> 16:53.200 of Unix, very, very strikingly the same. 16:53.200 --> 16:58.960 Why do the systems programmers feel this need to make local changes? 16:58.960 --> 17:00.760 Are they social in nature? 17:00.760 --> 17:03.440 I noticed one example that I had. 17:03.440 --> 17:08.440 I came into our computer center, and I asked one of the local programmers. 17:08.440 --> 17:11.120 He said, well, I don't think this I.O. statement is working quite right. 17:11.120 --> 17:15.200 And he got on there and made modifications to the source code and compiled it right into 17:15.200 --> 17:16.640 the system right there on the spot. 17:16.640 --> 17:19.960 So we had a different operating system right there at that very time. 17:19.960 --> 17:22.160 Is it because it's so easy that you make changes to it? 17:22.160 --> 17:28.040 I think everybody adulterates their, let's say, improves the recipe that they receive 17:28.040 --> 17:31.800 from grandma, and in this case, ma. 17:31.800 --> 17:38.440 And particular manufacturers, for example, receive the official original source code, 17:38.440 --> 17:42.640 and they're putting implement on their machine may have particular target markets in mind, 17:42.640 --> 17:43.640 for example. 17:43.640 --> 17:49.040 The emphasis on networking and workstations is contrasted with an emphasis on multi-user 17:49.040 --> 17:51.440 transaction machines for database management. 17:51.440 --> 17:54.840 Now, what about AT&T, their role in this right now? 17:54.840 --> 18:00.640 Are they trying to, say, bring these versions back into one standard? 18:00.640 --> 18:06.760 Quite apparently, AT&T would like to establish, define the standard as System 5.2. 18:06.760 --> 18:12.040 I mean, we'll get other decimal points behind that on the dotted line. 18:12.040 --> 18:18.800 There is another kind of de facto standard out of the so-called Berkeley 4.2 standard 18:18.800 --> 18:19.800 distribution. 18:19.800 --> 18:26.560 They are, in fact, quite different code underneath to the outside most user. 18:26.560 --> 18:30.560 They look very similar with the difference of some utilities. 18:30.560 --> 18:36.120 It's quite common for a manufacturer, probably, I can think of a half dozen who have adopted 18:36.120 --> 18:41.520 AT&T Unix but put Berkeley utilities on top of so-called extensions. 18:41.520 --> 18:42.760 Seems like that might be the safe place. 18:42.760 --> 18:48.040 Because they are nifty things from Berkeley, and there is the basic Unix itself. 18:48.040 --> 18:52.280 Now, there's another question that comes up, I think, in the minds of many people is that 18:52.280 --> 18:56.440 IBM has a couple of versions of Unix that they're supporting. 18:56.440 --> 18:59.920 Are they doing this just to, say, fill the market out, or are they really trying to get 18:59.920 --> 19:03.920 behind the effort in the sense that you think of IBM and AT&T as being competitors, and 19:03.920 --> 19:08.040 it's a little strange to think that IBM might be promoting a competitor's product? 19:08.040 --> 19:16.160 Well, and AT&T uses IBM computers, so I think we would all get rich if we knew the answer 19:16.160 --> 19:17.960 to this question with any confidence. 19:17.960 --> 19:22.160 Doug, I want to ask you about your implementation of Unix on something like this. 19:22.160 --> 19:24.880 We're talking here about a $5,000 PC. 19:24.880 --> 19:30.560 In the first part of the show, we were looking at a $12,000 to $15,000 pretty high-end AT&T 19:30.560 --> 19:31.560 machine. 19:31.560 --> 19:33.520 Do we lose anything in the implementation here? 19:33.520 --> 19:35.440 Is this the same Unix? 19:35.440 --> 19:38.320 The only thing that we've really left out is the hard disk, which would allow you to 19:38.320 --> 19:40.320 do your own program development. 19:40.320 --> 19:43.920 By leaving out the hard disk, we can reduce the cost, but still leave you enough to run 19:43.920 --> 19:44.920 applications. 19:44.920 --> 19:49.520 Now, I read in one of the trades recently that there was talk that Commodore was going 19:49.520 --> 19:52.000 to come out with Unix at that level. 19:52.000 --> 19:53.000 On the C54? 19:53.000 --> 19:56.640 You know, kind of Mac look-alike running Unix. 19:56.640 --> 19:58.320 Is that kind of thing possible? 19:58.320 --> 20:00.280 Certainly, technology is there to do that. 20:00.280 --> 20:04.480 It's really been a question of if the applications are there to support the home end user. 20:04.480 --> 20:08.040 I think if any kind of a rumor like that were true, they would have to be different from 20:08.040 --> 20:11.040 the standard machine you buy on the Kmart. 20:11.040 --> 20:16.360 Imagine trying to get Unix explained to you at that level. 20:16.360 --> 20:22.040 Let's go back to the core file system at this point, the kernel, I guess is what it might 20:22.040 --> 20:23.040 be called. 20:23.040 --> 20:27.600 Operating systems from the micro world right now provide multitasking, file lockout, record 20:27.600 --> 20:29.400 lockout, facilities like that. 20:29.400 --> 20:34.280 What does Unix really offer that is, I think, substantially different that will make it 20:34.280 --> 20:37.280 successful besides its backing by AT&T? 20:37.280 --> 20:39.560 I like to take that one. 20:39.560 --> 20:44.160 I think that with Unix, you've got the promise of being able to offer the same kinds of environments, 20:44.160 --> 20:48.880 same user interfaces across a broad range of computers, both at work and at home, so 20:48.880 --> 20:51.600 that you don't have to relearn everything just because you move to a different computer. 20:51.600 --> 20:56.520 But is there anything inherent in the file system, say, as special access methods, let's 20:56.520 --> 21:01.720 say, an IBM terminology index sequential access methods or anything really substantially different 21:01.720 --> 21:05.160 about the way files are accessed, say, from the micro world? 21:05.160 --> 21:08.120 Technically, not necessarily, though. 21:08.120 --> 21:15.120 It is a very, very flexible sort of least common denominator so that ISAMs can be used 21:15.120 --> 21:16.120 on top of it. 21:16.120 --> 21:19.360 Unix itself doesn't provide an ISAM, but they are around most manufacturers. 21:19.360 --> 21:23.560 So maybe, let's say, AT&T's backing and the number of applications and so forth that may 21:23.560 --> 21:25.760 determine the success of Unix in the future. 21:25.760 --> 21:30.000 200 utilities that do handy things don't hurt. 21:30.000 --> 21:36.080 Some of it's a simulation, one might dare say, of Unix by MS-DOS and other products 21:36.080 --> 21:39.520 that see concepts and try to implement them. 21:39.520 --> 21:43.760 Unix can't claim to be the sole source of such useful functionality. 21:43.760 --> 21:49.360 Okay, gentlemen, well, there are clearly two points of view on whether Unix will prevail 21:49.360 --> 21:53.240 as a new kind of standard operating system, and commentator Paul Schindler has some thoughts 21:53.240 --> 21:54.240 on that. 21:54.240 --> 22:02.600 Sure, I should be using a can opener instead of a screwdriver to open this can of tomato 22:02.600 --> 22:03.600 juice. 22:03.600 --> 22:05.920 I mean, a can opener is the appropriate tool for the job. 22:05.920 --> 22:10.640 Well, I'm one of those people who feel Unix is the wrong tool in the wrong place in the 22:10.640 --> 22:11.800 microcomputer world. 22:11.800 --> 22:14.320 Yeah, I know, I've heard all the arguments. 22:14.320 --> 22:16.680 Unix is so easy to move to new computers. 22:16.680 --> 22:19.400 Unix programs are so easy to move from computer to computer. 22:19.400 --> 22:22.040 Well, I'm sorry, but I think that's just so much bunkum. 22:22.040 --> 22:24.120 Look, let's face a few facts. 22:24.120 --> 22:27.460 Unix was developed by a bunch of brilliant programmers at Bell Laboratories. 22:27.460 --> 22:31.360 They wanted a great mini-computer environment to develop software in, and that's what they 22:31.360 --> 22:32.360 created. 22:32.360 --> 22:36.200 And that's what Unix is today, a great place to do mini-computer software. 22:36.200 --> 22:40.520 What Unix is not is what AT&T and a lot of other companies are trying to make it into, 22:40.520 --> 22:42.920 the ultimate microcomputer operating system. 22:42.920 --> 22:46.800 I don't know enough to say whether it's easy to move Unix from machine to machine, but 22:46.800 --> 22:52.280 I do know that applications written for Unix on one machine don't always work on another. 22:52.280 --> 22:55.080 There are incompatible Unix dialects galore. 22:55.080 --> 22:59.960 Unix is a user-hostile operating system, dramatically short on software. 22:59.960 --> 23:01.120 That's my opinion. 23:01.120 --> 23:11.440 I'm Paul Schindler. 23:11.440 --> 23:15.400 In the Random Access file this week, the Consumer Electronics Show was over and there were no 23:15.400 --> 23:17.120 Blockbuster new products. 23:17.120 --> 23:21.440 Commodore did show off its new 128 series and promised to ship it later this month. 23:21.440 --> 23:25.680 Commodore also displayed its new Unix machine and two new IBM compatibles. 23:25.680 --> 23:30.000 Probably the biggest hot new area was robots, with new personal robots being shown by several 23:30.000 --> 23:31.000 manufacturers. 23:31.000 --> 23:35.520 Tomy introduced a new robot which can be run by your personal computer, and Nintendo showed 23:35.520 --> 23:40.000 off a game-playing robot that interfaces with the game on your computer screen. 23:40.000 --> 23:44.680 There were robots with synthesized speech and robots that change their facial expressions. 23:44.680 --> 23:49.320 Atari was a last-minute exhibitor and confused the ST picture even more by showing a new 23:49.320 --> 23:54.000 256K model, which will supposedly sell for $499. 23:54.000 --> 23:57.120 Atari also unveiled its new CD-ROM storage system. 23:57.120 --> 24:01.280 The disk holds 500 megabytes and will sell for about $500. 24:01.280 --> 24:03.640 Atari said it will ship this December. 24:03.640 --> 24:06.040 What makes you choose one computer over another? 24:06.040 --> 24:10.520 Well, performance being equal, the most important factor is the design of the keyboard. 24:10.520 --> 24:15.480 According to a study just completed by a Connecticut design firm, buyers may want bells and whistles, 24:15.480 --> 24:20.160 but they also want a simple-looking keyboard, contrasting colors on function keys, full 24:20.160 --> 24:25.400 travel keys, long space bars, and a, quote, substantial look, generally meaning thick 24:25.400 --> 24:27.160 edges. 24:27.160 --> 24:31.240 Light waves are not only replacing electrons in computer storage, but researchers at the 24:31.240 --> 24:35.440 Center for Applied Optics at the University of Alabama say light beams may soon replace 24:35.440 --> 24:37.700 electrons in the computer itself. 24:37.700 --> 24:42.520 The center's director says optical computers using photons and lasers will be smaller, 24:42.520 --> 24:47.680 use less power, and allow for three-dimensional design and more efficient parallel processing. 24:47.680 --> 24:52.120 The optical research is being funded by the Pentagon, which sees optical processing power 24:52.120 --> 24:55.880 as essential to an effective Star Wars system. 24:55.880 --> 25:00.600 Our star of the software wars is Paul Schindler, and here is his review for the week. 25:00.600 --> 25:04.220 They say you can tell how good a word person is by whether they work the New York Times 25:04.220 --> 25:06.800 crossword puzzle in ink or in pencil. 25:06.800 --> 25:11.360 Well, I got to tell you, I don't work it at all, but if you do, you ought to try WordMaker, 25:11.360 --> 25:16.680 a truly obscure software package from Word Associates at 55 Sutter Street in San Francisco. 25:16.680 --> 25:20.280 Now, normally we don't give addresses, but these guys aren't in the phone book, and you 25:20.280 --> 25:22.960 can't buy WordMaker in any store. 25:22.960 --> 25:25.560 This is the software package for word lovers. 25:25.560 --> 25:29.240 It makes the grandiose claim of including every word in the English language. 25:29.240 --> 25:32.680 Its search technique is a real boon for the crossword puzzle fan. 25:32.680 --> 25:35.840 If you know how long the word is and can fill in some of the letters, you can search through 25:35.840 --> 25:39.560 a hundred thousand words and find all those that match what you have. 25:39.560 --> 25:44.160 Now, I can't review this package without pointing out that its command menu is one of the simplest, 25:44.160 --> 25:46.280 most useful I've ever seen. 25:46.280 --> 25:50.640 This package used to cost $50, but at that price, no one wanted it, so Word Associates 25:50.640 --> 25:54.320 cut the price to $10, just over the price of a floppy. 25:54.320 --> 25:58.600 WordMaker from Word Associates, 55 Sutter Street, San Francisco. 25:58.600 --> 26:01.480 For the Computer Chronicles, I'm Paul Schindler. 26:01.480 --> 26:04.480 Looking for a word processor and want to know what everyone else is buying? 26:04.480 --> 26:06.520 Well, here's the latest list of top sellers. 26:06.520 --> 26:11.640 Leading the pack is IBM's Writing Assistant, followed by Microsoft's Word, Bank Street 26:11.640 --> 26:17.200 Writer from Broderbund, and then PFSWrite and Multimate, WordStar comes in sixth. 26:17.200 --> 26:20.880 The Bank of America and Chemical Bank are forming a joint venture with AT&T and Time 26:20.880 --> 26:26.080 Incorporated to expand home banking services into broader-based electronics services for 26:26.080 --> 26:27.080 home users. 26:27.080 --> 26:32.140 Chemical's Pronto and B of A's Home Banking now have nearly 40,000 subscribers. 26:32.140 --> 26:36.800 The Defense Department has just completed a study which says that of the 17,000 DoD 26:36.800 --> 26:41.560 computers, only 30 of them are adequately protected from unauthorized entry. 26:41.560 --> 26:45.640 The head of computer security for the Pentagon said they are currently vulnerable to any 26:45.640 --> 26:48.480 mentally unbalanced 16-year-old. 26:48.480 --> 26:51.440 Industrial robot sales are moving right along in the U.S. 26:51.440 --> 26:54.400 Sales of robots were up 71 percent in the past year. 26:54.400 --> 26:59.640 There are now nearly 15,000 robots at work in the United States, up from less than 10,000 26:59.640 --> 27:00.920 just a year ago. 27:00.920 --> 27:06.520 Finally, the tough times in the computer business were evident at last week's CES show in Chicago. 27:06.520 --> 27:11.240 Lots of booth space reserved for computer companies went unused, but the space was quickly 27:11.240 --> 27:14.400 grabbed up by the makers of X-rated video cassettes. 27:14.400 --> 27:18.640 Apparently that part of the home entertainment business is doing just fine. 27:18.640 --> 27:20.160 That's it for this week's Computer Chronicles. 27:20.160 --> 27:21.960 We'll see you next time. 27:21.960 --> 27:26.240 The Computer Chronicles is brought to you in part by McGraw-Hill, publishers of Popular 27:26.240 --> 27:31.200 Computing Magazine, featuring microcomputer applications that increase productivity for 27:31.200 --> 27:57.320 managers and professionals.